Late Nightmare

7 years ago

Conan Refuses Midnight Show

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

Conan O’Brien is refusing to budge: In a statement, the late-night host opposed moving his show to 12:05 a.m. to accommodate Jay Leno. “I sincerely believe that delaying
The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting,” Conan writes. “I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. …I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.” Despite Conan's hope "that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work," rumors are
swirling that Jay will return to
The Tonight Show, and that the two late-night titans have not spoken since NBC’s decision to toy with the lineup.